


Places We Were Made

by fromawhisperstart



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-31 00:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13963614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromawhisperstart/pseuds/fromawhisperstart
Summary: One year has passed since Oliver was forced to take up the mantle of Al Sah-Him to save his sister, and he hasn’t been back to Starling City since.The city has moved on - the Arrow is long forgotten by the public, making way for a new era of heroes in the form of the Atom, Spartan, Speedy, and the Black Canary.With Felicity at the helm, Oliver’s old team continue to fight to keep their city safe - however, when a new threat arrives in Starling that is of great interest to the League, Oliver and Felicity’s lives intertwine once more.





	Places We Were Made

**Author's Note:**

> An idea I couldn't shake. Unbeta'd. 
> 
> Alternative S3 - S4. What if Oliver had been Al Sah-Him for longer than 3 episodes?

“Speedy, on your left,” Felicity Smoak muttered, her eyes flitting between the two computer screens stationed in-front of her. “Oh, and on your right….and behind you. Basically, you’re surrounded by Brick’s goons. Sorry.”

“No problem,” Thea Queen smirked down the comms, drawing her bow and firing three arrows out the window of the moving vehicle. Thea had been out in the field as Speedy for close to a year, but the adrenaline rush that came with being a hero was still as new and exciting as ever. Thea often reminded Felicity of her brother - the deft way she slung her bow over her shoulder after a successful mission, the ruthless fighting patterns, the disarming Queen smile...sometimes it was all too much for Felicity. Thea’s constant presence in the foundry'd meant that the memories Felicity had fought so hard to forget began to tumble to the forefront of her mind.

In fact, it’s was Thea’s insistence that she join their crusade that had tipped Felicity over the edge, all those months ago. She and Diggle had disagreed about Thea’s involvement on the team, particularly after a bad mission where, due to her new-found recklessness, Thea had nearly got herself killed. Meryln (interacting with that man still left a bad taste in Felicity’s mouth) had declared that Thea was suffering with side effects from the Lazarus Pit, causing her to lash out and make poor decisions when out in the field.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Felicity had scoffed under her breath as Merlyn waxed lyrical about the Pit and how it could change a person. She’d taken one look around the lair that night - Merlyn the murderer giving the team advice, Laurel nursing a particularly nasty bruise on her cheek, Thea gritting her teeth angrily at her evil father, the mannequin dressed in green leather that they couldn’t bear to move….

This wasn’t their mission anymore. This wasn’t _his_ mission.

Felicity had landed on Diggle, his wise, wonderful eyes no longer shining with hope, instead dull and heavy. They shared a sad smile.

She didn’t return to the foundry for two months after that night.

“Felicity, can you give us our ETA?” Diggle’s rough voice sliced through Felicity’s thoughts.

“Uh, yeah..you’re around 3 miles from the drop off point. Start circling. Lance is ready and waiting.”

“Do you think-” Laurel Lance grunted in-between punches, “-we could go a little faster, Ray?”

“I’m going as fast as I can!” Ray Palmer responded indignantly, his helmet-clad head buried in a mess of tangled wires. “Unless any of you can hot-wire the entirety of this vehicle to shock its intruders, I don’t think-”

His loud yelp made Felicity jump, signalling his success.

“...You got it working, Ray?”

“Yep.”

Felicity heard Thea let out a booming laugh, and watched as Brick’s henchmen continued to follow Team Arrow’s vehicle, albeit at a slower pace than before.

“They’re dropping away, but still tailing. Keep them chasing you. I’ll let Lance know that you’re ready for them to begin moving,” Felicity reached for her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she landed on Captain Lance’s number. It had only been a few months since Lance and his squad had decided to work with the vigilante team - Team Arrow would offer their assistance and expertise to the SCPD in exchange for a peaceful life. She quickly tapped the message, typing the code word she and Lance had settled on when their unofficial deal had been struck.

_GREEN_

* * *

 

“Good job tonight guys,” Felicity smiled as the team trudged victoriously into the foundry. She moved to what she’d dubbed their ‘Crime Board’, taking a harsh red marker and crossing through a name. “We’ve apprehended 5 criminals in as many days. That’s gotta be some kind of record.”

“God, the state of Starling City makes me sad,” Laurel remarked, pulling her wig off and joining Felicity at the board. “You put one crime lord away, another crawls out the woodwork to take their place. It’s an epidemic.”

“Yeah, someone should speak to the DA about that,” Thea teased from across the room as she shrugged off her hood. Laurel rolled her eyes.

“Ha ha. I’m not DA yet.”

“Yeah, but you will be,” Thea assured her, joining the two women at the Crime Board, “You’re the best Assistant DA Starling City’s got.”

“Plus you said the meeting with the Mayor went well,” Felicity added encouragingly.

Laurel unzipped her Canary suit slightly, loosening its fit around her neck. “It’s not a sure thing. Besides, even as DA, I’m not sure how much good I can do. It feels like we’ve been taking one step forward, two steps back since….”

“Since Ollie’s been gone,” Thea finished.

Laurel nodded, swallowing thickly. The team fell into a comfortable silence, Thea's nickname for her brother evoking memories they didn't know how to share. This was their new normal - grieve, get angry, talk about it, repress it, repeat.

The quiet was soon broken by Ray's helmet crashing on the hard foundry floor as he attempted to remove his less-than-forgiving ATOM suit. He muttered apologies as he swept his helmet up and awkwardly shuffled to the foundry's changing area.

“Still,” Felicity said, fixing a bright smile on her face, “One step forward is better than nothing, right? We’re doing the best we can with...what we have.”

Laurel and Thea nodded in agreement.

The team soon dispersed, heading in the direction of the changing area to shed their uncomfortable leathers. Felicity rubbed her neck and winced. After a long day spent sifting through the resources in the Applied Sciences department, her body was crying out for her bed. It was coming up to 4am, and she was under no illusion that the big breakfast meeting she and Ray were hosting at Palmer Tech at 9am would be even easier after an all-nighter. Her life as a vigilante had meant that she’d developed a knack for running on little to no sleep, but even she knew when to call it important to call it a night.

It wasn't until the computer had stopped humming that she realised she was all alone. Alone in the foundry was when she found it the most difficult. The silence was deafening.

It was also when she was most drawn to his mannequin. The Arrow suit stood proud - it was a little dusty where it had been carelessly thrown into evidence by the SCPD after their raid on the foundry, but Felicity had pulled a few strings to get it back in their possession. The foundry had felt wrong without the suit, although it didn’t exactly feel right with it, either. It was a sort of, _medium_ feeling.

She had gotten used to medium feelings. Never quite wrong, never quite right.

“You OK?”

Felicity jumped, clutching a hand to her chest as she spun to meet Diggle’s handsome face.

“Jesus, John...sorry, I thought...I thought you’d gone to get changed.”

Diggle gestured to his get-up, frowning a little. He’d already changed into his ‘John Diggle, Daddy and Driver’ clothes, his identity concealment slung over one arm. 

"Sorry, yeah. It's been a long day," she laughed quietly, rubbing her forehead.

“He’d be proud, you know.”

Felicity shifted, taken aback. “Of what?”

“Of you. Of us. Of...all of this,” he tipped his chin in the direction of the Crime Board. “Carrying on his mission to save the city. It’s what he’d want.”

“I know. I just don’t know what I’m feeling so sad tonight,” Felicity admitted in a small voice. They hadn't talked so openly about Oliver in a long, long time. It felt foreign.

“Nostalgia?” Diggle guessed, cocking his head to the side, “It’s been a year, right? Anniversaries are meant to be remembered.”

Felicity’s mouth twisted.

“I kind of didn’t want to remember this particular one.”

Diggle huffed in amusement, giving her a look that read _you and me both_.

“Listen, I’m gonna call it a night. Lyla’s on assignment in Iran and Sara has been anything but giving when it comes to sleeping in.” He pecked Felicity on the cheek. ‘Get some sleep, OK?”

“I will. Night, Dig.”

Laurel and Ray fell into step with Diggle as they ascended the foundry stairs, Ray throwing a quick smile over his shoulder to Felicity. He’d become a great confidant since Oliver’s disappearing act - a purely platonic confidant, despite what Felicity could sense was Ray’s disappointment - and Palmer Tech was thriving under Ray’s guiding hand.

Felicity gave her friends a small wave as they disappeared from sight. Her attention was soon pulled from the stairs to Thea, lingering by the mannequins, clumsily zipping her Speedy suit onto the plastic body. Her hands were shaking. Felicity knew what was coming next.

“Have you…?” Thea trailed off, her question hanging in the air like an unpleasant smell. Felicity already knew what she was going to ask. It was the same conversation they’d exchanged every night for the last year, since Oliver had left.

Felicity simply shook her head - the same disappointing answer that always followed. “Nothing. Nanda Parbat is well and truly offline. I’m so sorry, Thea.”

Thea’s face crumpled.

“Is it stupid? For me to keep hoping that he’ll…?”

“Well, they say hope is the root to all unhappiness,” Felicity muttered, before taking a deep breath. These moments with Thea, the girl who had loved Oliver for as long as she could remember, the only one who could truly understand her grief...they were her lifeboat. She needed these quiet moments as much as Thea did.

“No. No, it’s not stupid at all. Hope is…” Felicity continued, pausing as her eyes landed on the Arrow suit. Untouched, unused.

The armour of a ghost.

“Hope is all we have.” 

 


End file.
